Welcome to the 42nd edition of the Pivot Points and Pivot Points blog e-newsletter, the first special edition of others in months to come to be dedicated to Frank Islam and Ed Crego's new book, Working The Pivot Points: To Make America Work Again, including free pre-publication access to entire chapters, by way of thanks to you, loyal readers of our newsletter...

Chapter 1: Pivot Points In U.S. History
Summer recess ends for Congress tomorrow (Sept. 9), and before they get going, hammer and tongs, we thought it might be a good opportunity for a little reflective, last minute summer reading.  We look back at the pivot points in U.S. history, what really happened in the course of those events, and the patterns that could help us through the crossroads (plural) we find ourselves at now...

http://bit.ly/pivotpts--chapter1 (access, download the chapter)

Chapter 1 Readings: LePore, Will, Brooks, Menand, California-Social Science Project

New Yorker writer Jill Le Pore parses one of the original pivot points in our country, the creation and ratification of the Constitution (an uncomfortable read for Originalists)…

http://bit.ly/lepore_constitution

Washington Post columnist George Will upbraids fellow conservatives for their attacks on the Census Bureau, tracing it from the Founders to today as a source for more informed governance and citizenry...

http://bit.ly/will_census

David Brooks of the New York Times explores the ways in which the humanism that inspired the Founders has led to a more moral and pluralistically spiritual society...

http://bit.ly/brooks_secular_society

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's challenge to the Voting Rights Act, New Yorker critic Louis Menand tracks the long and difficult history that brought it into being...

http://bit.ly/menand_voting_rights

An entire issue of the California-Social Science Project (UC-Davis') quarterly publication, The Source, dedicated to the imperatives of civic learning in our schools, and how to realize those requirement in the current educational environment...

http://bit.ly/ucdavis_civics



Pivot point - an area that can be leveraged and addressed to achieve outcomes and results 

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